ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Film has been a technology for moving image capture and reproduction for over 100 years-far longer than television. As a result, vast libraries and archives of material have accumulated all around the world, covering an extremely broad range of content from news footage to major feature movies, in addition to all the non-entertainment uses. Estimates vary, but probably somewhere between 1 and 2 million hours of filmed content exist in the world today.1 In addition, new content is constantly being created. Despite the increasing inroads of video capture and digital cinematography techniques, film remains the medium of choice for most directors of full-length feature movies as well as for many directors of documentary, wildlife, TV miniseries, and other genres. This chapter covers some of the basic characteristics of film and describes the systems that may be used for transferring film material into the television medium. This process is quite complex, and the place of transfer has accordingly migrated from the broadcaster to specialized facilities houses; however, networks and stations may still maintain the necessary equipment in house for shortnotice requirements such as airing library footage that exists only on film.
